Bitdefender Antivirus Plus

Bitdefender Antivirus Plus finds and removes malware and guards you against phishing sites. BitDefender may not be as well known, but it continues to earn top awards in virus protection for good reason. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus protects against all sorts of malware that would infect your Windows PC. It is so good at what it does that it wins our Top Ten Reviews Gold Award for best antimalware.

Although Bitdefender Antivirus Plus performs well, even the best antimalware can prevail against every threat. Bitdefender will automatically clean up viruses that get through the perimeter. Sometimes, however, more challenging threats such as rootkits break through and Bitdefender cannot automatically erase them. Bitdefender, therefore, has a rescue mode so that if, for example, a rootkit attaches itself to the registry of the operating system (a threat that hides while exploiting privileged access to the system), Bitdefender reboots in a special mode to reveal the problem and let you remove it with a tool from Bitdefender’s support site.

Bitdefender earned top scores among most independent testing labs for virus protection, identification, and removal. In our own tests, however, Bitdefender scored well below average with only a 60% success rate. Seeing these results, we thought it must be a fluke. But when we repeatedly tested the same set of malware against competing antivirus software, Bitdefender didn’t perform as well. It’s possible Bitdefender was having a bad day (even though our tests take way more than one day) since it’s known for being consistently good software, but we have to report our honest test results. Factor those in with top independent scores, and Bitdefender Antivirus Plus comes out with moderate protection power.

Bitdefender watches system settings and warns when it is time to update Windows security patches. By maintaining operating system patches, you strengthen your computer’s protection against attacks. In addition to monitoring for Windows vulnerabilities, Bitdefender tells you about out-of-date applications, which is something that only a few antivirus suites can do. Bitdefender augments its antimalware with further privacy features. If you receive dangerous results in Google and Bing searches Bitdefender, blocks them. In a similar vein, it knows which websites have a reputation for scamming and phishing. Bitdefender can check privacy settings and links in Facebook. Further privacy is available in the form of a file shredder and a personal data filter.

Bitdefender Antivirus Plus is fine antimalware with stunning performance, useful features, responsive support and a gratifying user experience. In performance, it beats competitors with more recognizable brands. Some of the included features are normally only in comprehensive internet security suites that cost more. If you ever find that your PC has suffered from an attack that you can’t deliver yourself from, Bitdefender support is there at all hours to get you back to normal. Despite the fact that Bitdefender Antivirus Plus didn’t score too well in our tests, we’re willing to consider it a strong antivirus solution based on its scores in other independent tests, and because Bitdefender has been such excellent antivirus software historically.